triple steven

Visit my new site @ http://stevenanderson.me

2009-10-29T07:07:00.001-07:00

Visit my new site @ http://stevenanderson.me

Great things are happening... and some other stuff..

2009-09-17T11:33:00.001-07:00

Worship last night was really awesome. If you look at some of the posts from last night you can get a glimpse of what was going on last night. Ryan and the band did an amazing job of CONNECTing with the students and leading them to worship God. We talked about being CONNECTed to each other through the church and the benefits, and also the consequences of not being CONNECTed.

A big theme to the start of this year has been getting students talking with each other about God. This is the focus of our small groups, but it is what happens beyond our walls that really counts. I’ve been encouraged several times this week by our students committed to engaging each other and others with the Gospel. One of our triplemsm girls updated her status about being excited to share Christ with someone that day. Students are following through with their commitments, from sharing Christ to getting baptized, it has been an awesome start to the year, with even cooler stuff to come!

Please pray for Kristi and I, well mainly Kristi. She will be having surgery tomorrow to have her gall bladder removed. Thank you in advance for praying for her. Side note: She brought home a pamphlet about the surgery and all the pictures had the gall bladder colored green. Then, I watched a video of the surgery on YouTube... the gall bladder really is a shade of green. Weird!

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Jesus paid it all!

2009-09-16T16:52:00.001-07:00

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Ready now!

2009-09-16T16:03:00.001-07:00

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IMG_0022.MOV (2523 KB)

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triplemsm worship!

2009-09-16T15:58:00.001-07:00

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Triplemsm worship!

2009-09-16T15:57:00.001-07:00

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IMG_0020.MOV (3048 KB)

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Reflections

2009-09-14T09:31:00.001-07:00

Wouldn’t be nice to have some of the qualities of a computer:

- System Reboot -- I would really like this one for Kristi (my wife). She has dealt with a lot, as I’m sure many women have. I wish that when she gets sick I wish I could just shut her down for a little while and restart and be back to normal. I know there are drawbacks to this analogy too, but I hate to see Kristi in pain and have nothing to do about it.

- Time machine -- Maybe we could go back and act like all that didn’t happen, but we can’t “That just happened!”

- An HD screen — Clarity of vision would be great! See what’s ahead, examine what behind...

What would be a computer quality you would want?

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We love our Pastor! 10 years! Congratulations Dr. Powell!

2009-09-13T16:33:00.001-07:00

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IMG_0019.MOV (3130 KB)

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Yeh Afters

2009-09-11T16:54:00.001-07:00

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IMG_0014.MOV (1977 KB)

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Yellow cavalier

2009-09-11T16:27:00.001-07:00

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IMG_0013.MOV (3086 KB)

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Yellow cav

2009-09-11T16:15:00.001-07:00

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@triplemsm worship... We talked about chewing in the things of God and sharing the Good news w/ our friends

2009-09-09T16:49:00.001-07:00

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700 chairs in stage one looks pretty awesome. It would be incredible with students in them. - let's make that happen

2009-09-08T08:36:00.001-07:00

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Jonathan, I mean hulk, took our family out tonight!

2009-09-07T14:20:00.001-07:00

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Triple Tuesday

2009-08-25T20:07:00.001-07:00

3 random thoughts...

1. Looking forward to Sunday morning. Going to spend some time introducing the Coolest group of middle school ministry (triplemsm) leadership to the students they serve. Just have one problem... Kristi and I have to learn the Hoedown Throwdown by Sunday morning. I’m up for the challenge... I think. Three years of line dancing for PE during middle school will be a huge advantage for me, and lucky for Kristi... I’m a GREAT teacher. :)

2. I’ve had the new Angus burger at McD’s now twice. I really liked them, especially the premium pickle. It is a small detail, but they have done a fine job with it. It doesn’t beat a royal red robin though... Those guys are burger geniuses.

3. It is amazing what you find when you are cleaning out closets around a student ministry. I wasn’t doing it but meg was finding nasty clothes, lots of broken stuff. I was hoping that she would walk by with an intern or two that somehow got shoved in a closet and forgotten about. It sure would be nice to have a Kirk or even a Josh year round..

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being a part of the conversation

2009-08-25T08:07:00.001-07:00

With the rise of blogs and now micro-blogging(twitter/facebook), people are becoming more and more the part of conversations. People are engaging subjects, interests, people like never before. There are some people, and I find myself in this category a lot, that are bystanders to the conversations around them, like someone sitting on a bench in the mall watching everything pass by them.

This past Sunday I challenged our students to get engaged in the conversation or start conversations about God. I think this is what gets missed when our students or even when we return to our regular lives. This is how someone can be on a “Jesus High” at camp and return to their old ways later. So the question is how do we get engaged in the conversation.

1. START THE CONVERSATION... Most the time we aren’t engaged in the conversation about God, because we are afraid to start it.
- Don’t be timid. Just because you are a preacher or haven’t gone to seminary doesn’t disqualify you from sharing what God is teaching you or doing in your life. What you share might be an amazing encouragement to those around you! 1 Cor. 2:12

2. Continue the Conversation... In Acts 2:42 it says that they devoted themselves to the apostles teachings and getting together, breaking bread and prayer.
- Once you start it, don’t be one and done.... Keep it up!!

3. Empower Others... Just the mere action of you having conversations about God is going to be a catalyst, but you should also be intentional about sharing it with others.

I know this is what church is all about... But it can’t just happen inside these walls anymore!

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fun with some new HS students

2009-08-22T20:55:00.001-07:00

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Movie 1.mov (6367 KB)

I’m such a dork... I totally didn’t know that you could do this in photobooth. HS students are so smart!!

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3 thing 6th graders will be thinking on move up Sunday.

2009-08-22T20:45:00.001-07:00

Just to add a disclaimer for anyone else that may read this... This is specific for McGregor and triplemsm. I’ve been thinking about how exciting this day is for some of the new 6th grade students and how scary it is for some of them at the same time... Hopefully tomorrow morning we can do some things to alleviate fear and uplift the Savior.

Top 3 things a sixth grader will be thinking:

3. mmmmm pancakes... I wonder how many of these I can fit into my pockets so that I can have a snack during the worship service.

2. I wonder when they are gonna open up the gym so I can show off my dodgeball skillz... :) (that’s for russell)

1. Wow!! My leaders are so awesome!! I can’t wait to come back with 15 friends next Sunday!!

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Scuba Steve

2009-07-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

I get to play a character (Scuba Steve) at children's camp this week. He is basically a young spaced out surfer guy that owns a dive shop. I need some game suggestions for the morning show. I have to do an upbeat time with the students with a game. This morning we played scuba steve says, that's like simon says only with "scuba steve" instead of "simon." Get it...

Anyway!! we are in for a great week here at camp... so far no rain... Pray that it will stay that way!!

Kristi!!

2009-07-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

Words can't express how much I love my wife. But if they could these would definitely be some (emphasis on some) that I would use.

Before school let out some girls invaded my office (with my permission) and asked if they could write on my then blank planning board. This is what I came back to. I was scared at first, but I was glad that the girls had picked up on how much I love Kristi! Back in March we have been in a relationship for 11 years, No Breaks!! July 21 is our 8th anniversary. I love this woman!!

what qualifies us to teach? especially students?

2009-07-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

I just can't get this off my mind. After reading James 3:1
   "Not many should become teachers, my brothers, for you know
   that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness."
I read this and imagine how much more we should be held accountable. (those of us who teach children and youth)

What is the strictness?

1) Your Life - Family, work, freinds, etc. That's right you can't just show up on Sunday and Wednesday and teach or lead a small group. Christ has called us to give our whole lives over to Him, that requires real examination and openness to take the steps to recovery when those ugly areas of our lives are discovered. No one is perfect, but we should all have the desire to strive towards God.

2) Your Words - My first thought was "When did I become a politician?" To examine every word sounds crazy, but it is so true that when you take on any leadership role your words become that much more important.
   How do you react when a crisis happens? Luke 6:45
   Are you quick to speak out of experience when asked questions or do
   you rely on the word of God? 2 Tim. 3:16

3) Your Actions - Are you living a life that is above reproach? There are so many parts of the bible that call His people to righteousness and righteous living, and it should be amplified when leading children and youth. Two things to think about.
   Personally - Are there things that you do that would grieve the
   Holy Spirit?
   Example Setting - Are you someone that is worth following,
   emulating, living like?
Ephesians 5 is a great and challenging chapter of scripture that should grab our attention. We may be the only example of Christ that those around us are getting, we need to stive to be the best.

The Challenge - Remember the High Calling that God has placed you in, use His power to live up to it.

Triple Tuesdays

2009-07-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Not only do we have triple tuesday tonight (laser battle) but I'm starting this little segment again on my blog.

here we go..

1) I'm not going to mention the fiasco with Michael Jackson and his funeral... but I guess I just did, we can't even get away from it by being intentional to stay away from it... IT IS EVERYWHERE. Alright, done with that now I'm moving on.

2) Do you have someone or organization that you get 1 or 2 mailers from every week. There is this one company (related to student ministry) that must have a gazillion dollar advertising budget because every time I go to my mailbox there is something from them. Maybe they could lower the price of there product, instead of spamming their customers.

3) I need a hobby...

get it done? or get it done right?

2009-05-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

I was challenged with this question after reading Craig Groeschel's post on the swerve blog called "cool is no longer cool." I was hit with the question, what are we committed to? I'm a big advocate for creating creative fun environments for our middle school students and doing catchy fun lessons and we have done are fair share of stupid videos. I do have to ask myself were we just getting it done?

The base of any ministry is Christ. How close is the leader to Him, is he or she leading others closer to Him? How are we coming up with our great ideas, from others, books or an overflow of time spent with Him? All questions that Craig raises in his post.

Some thoughts about getting it done and getting it done right -

1) Are we focussed on the task or the task giver? I'm convinced that there has to be a balance here. What happens, gets planned, talked about and everyone on board with should be a direct result of time spent with God. Most bosses don't want you asking questions every 5 minutes and relying on them for everything, but God does. We have to retrain ourselves to be more dependent on God.

2) Are we pointing people to the task or the task giver? When we here about an event or service "I can't wait until I can do that again!" it is really exciting, but the deal is that alone doesn't make our ministries successful. I want people excited and coming back, but when someone is leaving for the night (or after a morning service) it would be better to hear them saying I can't wait to do (insert service opportunity, bible study, personal time with God, telling others about Christ, inviting my friends, repenting from sin, etc.) If your mnistry results in someone coming closer to God you will see them back, or better yet you'll see them leading!

3) What is the task from the task giver? What does God want us to do? Come close to Him and let him work out the details, then work real hard to accomplish His details.

Matthew 6:33

pre-teens, tweens and the rest...

2009-05-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

I've always tried to fight labels as much as possible... Who am I kidding, our culture is about labeling things. Throughout the 90's everyone had to come up with the most PC labels and for the most part these pretty much took. This is something that I'm incredibly happy about because no minister wants their title to be "minister to immature, stinky, body changing, trying to find out where they fit, sometimes super energetic and sometimes way to cool kids." Then someone would probably take that and make it into some sort of acronym because that is what we do as churches.

As it relates to my ministry I was having a conversation last week with some leaders about pre-teens and tweens. We were both discussing how we don't like to think of our students as pre-teens and tweens, we both agreed that in our ministry they would be called middle schoolers.

There were two things that I thought about since that conversation. I was asking myself two important questions: (1) Why don't I like the terms Pre-teen and tween? (2) How are we doing (in our ministry) in preparing students to be teens?

My answer to the first question -

These seem like children's terms for kids that are in a transitional stage of life. As a middle school pastor I think that they should be labeled something cool and exciting, but I'm still thinking about that. I like what Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX has done with naming their ministries to this age group as Merge and Surge. Those two words do justice to defining this stage in life. Merge because it is a time to grow up (not all the way) and start taking on major spiritual responsibility and Surge because once they get it God can do some amazing things in and through them.

My answer to the second question -

This is a totally new perspective for me. I've always known that students are becoming teenagers in my ministry, but I can't say that I've ever done anything super-intentionally aimed at just that specific time with someone isn't 12 anymore. Maybe it is worth the extra hour of thought and extra layer of discussion to see how we can better and more intentionally guide students and parents not just into their High School years but their teen years too.

This could be just a fresh perspective change for me, but one that I find challenging.

YouVersion 2.0

2009-04-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

Saw this video and thought. You could get this...

Or you could just get an account with YouVersion.

The new version of YouVersion is great. Go check it out.

students excited to share their faith

2009-04-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

Our triplemsm team has been talking a lot about our mission trip lately. Our students have been incredibly excited about the upcoming trip to Jackson, MS. The one thing that has been on my heart and I keep hearing over and over again from students, parents and leaders is; "We want those going to Jackson to be able to share Christ with others."

We had several students get back from a mission trip with their school at which they had the opportunity to personally share their faith and be a part of someone coming to know Christ. They were so excited about it! I mean pumped... "We have to do this on our mission trip!" It was cool to hear them excited about sharing their faith. I know already that God is going to use something that started at a christian school associated with a different church to impact our students and Jackson, MS... The Kingdom is so huge.

Heres what I know:

Excited students make great evangelists for anything. Task 1 - get them excited about sharing the gospel.

God is going to do some amazing things in Jackson, MS this summer. Task 2 - Pray hard that we can be flexible enough to be a part of it!

God works more through brokenness than pride. Task 3 - Break the students by the end of Day 1. :) (I love saying that, but know God is the one who really does it)

If our plans don't make us think "how's that going to happen?" we need bigger plans. Task 4 - Plan big! Expect big! Work big! and be flexible enough to allow God to do what He wants.

There's a whole bunch more, but I don't want to bore you anymore with my task list.

not for a while

2009-04-09T08:36:00.001-07:00

so i haven't blogged for a while, unless twitter counts. Which I guess it does count because it is a micro-blogging community. anyway, I wanted to get on and share a bit!!

first.. Congrats to my brother (jackandersonjr on twitter) and his wife janice for the birth of Madelyn (I hope I didn't spell it wrong this time). She is the first girl on this side of the family (parents had three boys, all of our kids have been boys until now :)) excluding, of course all of our lovely wives.

second.. I was really excited for one of our leaders yesterday he braved many flights and arrived in Baton Rouge to see his nephew start on the mound for the Tigers... but during warm-ups Randy Zeigler hurt his arm (elbow I think) and after some time with the docs they think he may need surgery. Our prayers are with the Zeiglers' especially Randy, and we are praying for God's healing for him!

third.. I'm so excited about easter. It is always exciting, because it is a day that we see so many show up to worship. I'm praying for our pastor!! What an amazing burden he has to share Christ with the lost, I know that God has something big in store this easter! I get so broken when I think about and realize the amazing sacrifice that was made for us on calvary and how amazing Grace is.

fourth.. i started a few books and am actually steadily chopping away at all of them. I used to hardly ever read.. go me!!

finally.. I'm really excited about the week-end with my family. Jonathan has been asking a bunch of questions about Jesus and church and the bible and dinosaurs and swimming and cars and mythbusters and... well you get the picture. Kristi is an amazing wife and mom and tyler gets whatever he wants just by being so cute... I think I'm going to cut his hair again. Don't tell Kristi!

Happy easter every one!!

testing of your faith

2009-03-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

The testing of your faith comes at some of the worst times. James 1:2-4 says to approach the testing of our faith with joy, but most the time the trial doesn't come at the joyful times. I mean I've got some joy, but when I'm "meeting trials" it is never a great thing or for that matter even a good thing. I was studying this for a while and instead of just reading it like a cheesy christian bumper sticker I decided to allow God to actually teach me something through His word.

The key to my learning came from the word faith. The reason I'm not meeting the trials with joy is because of an over-abundance of self confidence and a severe lack of faith. So in order to not just learn but also to practice I have to totally lose control and allow God to control everything. There are some specific things that I have to remind myself of from time to time, that have helped me grow in my faith.

- Godly friends - Prov. 27:17 - I know that some of the worst moments in my life have been when I feel like I'm alone. We have to have fellowship, but more importantly it needs to be Godly fellowship and not just with people that say "everything is fine," but with those that really challenge us and say hard things and ask hard questions.

- Dynamic quiet-time - Spending time in God's word is great, but my sin is sometimes reading and not letting it speak. Let His word speak to you! Lately I've been using YouVersion as a tool, not for what I'm studying, but for how I'm studying. It is a great resource. Maybe you can find it helpful.

- Do it every day - Luke 9:23 - It isn't our life today, His when the times are tough, but His everyday. Find a way to remind yourself of that.

Increased attention to God's control will lead to less attention to life's trial and an overwhelming feeling of God's Joy.

random things

2009-03-25T10:31:00.001-07:00

-- Kristi turned 28 on monday! so what did we do to celebrate, loaded up the kids and went to chuck-e-cheeses. Maybe in an attempt to stay young it is "where a kid can be a kid." It was more a place to go where the Kids could be kids without an overwhelming amount of adult supervision. Even tyler got his way for once. I'm hoping that I get the chance to take Kristi out, and give her some kind of celebration that she deserves (wait that's way out of my price range)! You are amazing baby!!

-- Last week and into this week, I have spent some time refocusing and looking toward the future (at least how I see it). I've been able to nail down some things for the summer and take steps toward being MORE intentional with our events, programming and small groups. Key word there is intentional, right Kirk?

-- My sons amaze me by just how amazing they are (see I'm so amazed I can't even make sense). I was looking through old photos of Ty's 1st few months with us and Jonathan's birthdays and just so much stuff, they grow so fast!

I missed doing my Triple Tuesday blog, I was engaged in some pretty deep conversations at the time I normally do it. It really hurts me not to get that stuff out of my head though, Oh well, there is always next week.

triple tuesday

2009-03-17T14:23:00.001-07:00

here it goes...

1) I'm surprised by how connected you could get on the web. through things like facebook and twitter and other stuff that is taking it to a whole new level. I knew it was going become more and more, but I thought the days of things changing overnight were over. I don't think they are, I think the new question is "can I keep up?" I'm not sure if I have enough time to keep up, but I think I can stay with the pack, not a all like cross country in HS. Today, Ronald Reagan started following me on Twitter... wow... I guess he and elvis are doing good in South America.

2) It's pretty sad when people recognize you at the fast food joints. I went to Chic-fil-a and the manager recognized me (Ok, I work with her husband), but the crazier one is I went to Burger King today on a gift card (thanks meg) and the guy at the window handed me my food and said before I could ask "here's some extra ketchup" and smiled... I know he recognized me as the guy who always asks for ketchup, I wish I could say he recognized me for something different.

3) I can't imagine a bonus, let alone one over 1 million dollars... wow.

Habakkuk 2:3

2009-03-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

Habakkuk 2:3

This is one of Kristi's favorite verses. It seems really obscure at first, but given in light of what is going on around Habakkuk and what God is telling him it is really powerful. In a way, it is like us reading revelation. It is a vision awaiting its appointed time, but rest assured it will happen. Habakkuk during his time was faced with a lot junk... everywhere he looked he saw injustice, and evil surrounded the righteous so much that even justice went out perverted. At some point you have to stop and realize that this sounds so familiar.

We can find joy in the thought that God's justice will be carried out in the end. I'm left thinking, "What do we do until then?" We can't carry out God's justice and judgement, unless He wills, and as of this time He hasn't put me in that position of influence. However, I can think of some things to do while we wait.

1. Help others - (matt. 25:40) we won't be able to change everything, but we can help and are commanded to.

2. Worship God (live by faith) - (hab. 2:4) "the righteous shall live by his faith."

You'll read on into Habakkuk 3 and notice that even though everything isn't perfect around him Habakkuk gives glory to God for what He does. Let's find out what God is doing, get on board with it, and give Him the glory for it!

Triple Tuesday

2009-03-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

Here it goes...

1. This one is for dan... What is it with fainting in bathrooms. Dan you're not alone, I too have fainted twice in a bathroom and both times I have found my self lodged in a place wondering how I got there and recovering from bruises for a week. Maybe there is something about all the water works in a bathroom that makes you faint.... not sure there.

2. Taken is a great movie. I think now that our whole pastoral team has gone to see it... some more than once. One (doc) that will remain nameless said after seeing the movie with his daughter, she then went to a friends house later and he told her to call her when she got there... then when she called proceeded to say "hide under the bed, they are going to take you..."

3. Today at a brainstorming meeting I got side tracked on the Little Einsteins, "but we need more power" pat pat pat pat pat pat pat pat pat pat "pat faster" patpatpatpatpat... it has been with me all day......

liking middle schoolers

2009-03-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

Kurt Johnston in a recent article gave 4 key areas that make a leader in middle school ministry sharp. This is a highlight of the first one.

Kurt talks about how most people in the church should love middle schoolers, as Christians. There is a huge difference between that and liking them. This applies to areas all across the church spectrum. I think the best leaders in any area are the ones who like (not just in christian love) what they are doing.

We aim to have a lot of interaction between are adults and our students. I know that is what God has put the leaders their for and I know that our students need it. But, students are like human truth detectors. They know when something is not real or quite right, basically they know when you are faking it. I'm blessed to serve with some of the greatest middle school leaders around.

I have heard some great feedback from our students over the past month. We've had several students that were begging to be at a particular house for our D'Now because they have such a great relationship with their small group leader (that was several guys and girls). But not just that, showing up and spending time with them just hanging out. My leaders really show how they like middle schoolers.

The first question you should ask yourself before you get involved in any ministry is "Do I really like this?" Sometimes the answer will be no, sometimes an enthusiastic yes, and sometimes God might change your heart to make it true for you.

Silence

2009-03-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

That is what has been up with my blog lately. I'm getting a head-ache by all the different ways to communicate, I start one and forget about the other. Then I think about how amazing this stuff really is. HD tv is incredible, Facebook lets you connect and reconnect, with twitter you can know what everyone is doing and when they are doing, blogging is used so many different ways now, podcasting, ipods, smartphones, it never ends. All of that to say... has anyone invented something that is just silent.

I was reading an article today about silence that really challenged me. The article was by Mark Driscoll and he put together a list about what the bible says about the benefits of purposeful silence:

hearing from God (1 Kings 19:11-13)
waiting patiently (Lamentations 3:25-28)
worshiping God (Habakkuk 2:20)
knowing God better (Psalm 46:10)
praying effectively (Luke 5:16)

Everyone has a lot going on around them. Some of us allow those things to pull us away from our main focus and get bogged down with things that don't matter. Practice silence, regain focus and live for Christ.

so much to blog about..

2009-03-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

Underground '09 A great week-end with a lot to follow-up with, from eighth graders that have really made some decisions to go deeper in their relationship with Christ to several students from sixth and seventh grade that are just now starting on the journey to follow Christ. God did some amazing things in the hearts of our students. The Band was Great, the Pastor's messages were inspired and relevant (Doc you're great!), leaders and volunteers were sacrificial and excellent! Couldn't have asked for anything better.

What's Next A series on Service for sunday mornings, more relevant messages on wednesday nights along with excellent worship, Equipping for our summer mission trip to Jackson, MS including ways to get the individual cost down, gearing up for another Camp Spasm... Great things that are coming for our middle school ministry.

Lot's going on...

Don't miss it... It's gonna be great

2009-02-26T17:43:00.000-08:00

Being in the middle of our huge and really important discipleship weekend that we call underground, I was reviewing some of the ways that we try to get our students to sign up. You've all seen us do it. Ending everything with "you don't want to miss this!!" and "It's gonna be incredible."

I know that we aren't lying, I really believe in the events and activities that we do. I also believe whenever you get 100+ middle schoolers in one spot, you can't help but have an incredibly, amazing time. (I'm sensing some cringing as well as shock) Yes, I love serving middle school students.

I was glad to see that we weren't alone. I was examining a brochure from Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas and noticed that they were using some of the same language to promote their discipleship weekend. So I decided since "Don't miss this" and "it's incredible" is no longer original, maybe all of you could help us come up with something to say about our next events. We have two that we will begin promo on shortly... one is School's Out for Summer Lock-in... the other is Camp Spasm. Give us something original, and you may be quoted in our upcoming promo material. You may be used over and over again until we have to do something else like this to get a replacement for you promo blurb.

Please comment with your name.

triple tuesday...

2009-02-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

here it goes..

1. Do you remember the plane that landed in the Hudson river. The one where the hero pilot "sully" stayed on board making sure everyone made it off... all I can say is wow. Anyway... I'm not saying conspiracy just yet, but they found the remains of animals "birds" that hit both engines, and scientists best guess that it was Canadian Geese. Could this have been a terrorist attack after all... What are they up to up there???? I think we should keep a close eye on Celine Dion and Shanya and anyone else with canadian ties... this could be a well orchestrated terrorist take over from our "friends" up north.

2. I really have plenty to do...

3. Kristi and I are an aunt and uncle... again... Congratulations to my brother Michael and sister-in-law Jenny for the birth of little Clark (their first).

fat tuesday

2009-02-24T07:41:00.000-08:00

Growing up in Louisiana, this day would have never slipped by me unnoticed. The whole month leading up to it actually. I'm talkin' about Mardi Gras people. It was a celebration that lasted for a whole month and then some. It is kinda like spring break at Daytona Beach.

Just knowing that it is fat tuesday took me down memory lane. Like getting a tasty king cake from Jay's bakery on O'Neil Ln. I used to always want to get the little baby inside, even if it meant that you had to buy the next cake. I also remember what followed Mardi Gras, because south Louisiana is predominantly Catholic, the cafeteria at the school I went to would serve fish every friday. I really didn't like it.

On that note, Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

post #100 - Underground is coming

2009-02-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

Underground (our big discipleship weekend) is upon us. I'm really excited about everything coming together. We have such an amazing team of volunteers and staff! Even with the hardships that we are facing, I know that God is going to be glorified this weekend through crazy students, amazing worship, proclaiming his word, everyone's attitudes and hearts focused on God.

Please join us in prayer for what God is going to do this weekend!

Geaux Tigers!!

2009-02-19T07:38:00.000-08:00

I'm just hoping that someone out there is looking for a gift for me!Click Here! I'll also accept cash... and I already know that it is nowhere near my birthday and any other gift giving occasion for me. So I'm happy to wait. :(

On an even better note... and to confirm that I'm a fair-weather fan! GEAUX TIGERS! Baseball is going to be amazing this year. Men's basketball is dominating the SEC!! Track just had a great recruiting season... not that I really follow that.

They are my favorite team... I don't think I even have a hat???

have you ever read jonah 4?

2009-02-19T06:37:00.000-08:00

Well do it now: Jonah 4

I think most of us know the story. God sends Jonah to Nineveh to tell them to repent. Jonah refuses to go because he doesn't like the people in Nineveh. Jonah was swallowed by a fish, repented, then he fulfilled his mission and the Ninevites repented.

There have been countless times in my very short time of serving God that I have found myself in a similar situation. Pouting about not getting my way (never to the point that I would rather die, yet). Going to sleep with a negative spirit only to wake up to the promise that "God makes all things new!" I realize that the times I don't get my way, I should be shouting out with great joy that God is on His throne doing the things that He wants. There are a lot of lessons in this short passage... I'm going to highlight a few (and maybe do them justice).

Avoid the "why me?" mentality. If God has chosen you to do something you don't like, you should be honored. Easy to say and write, really hard to practice.

Love people at all times. Never forget that God's Word had the power to change people's life, no matter where you are or where they are.

God's lessons come when we are considerably uncomfortable. OK this one is a little bit of a stretch in the passage. God is kinda humorous here. What is thought at first to be a help to Jonah (the plant) turns into a great object lesson that only God can do.

divisions

2009-02-18T07:41:00.001-08:00

Being a part of a family is really hard at times. I can remember at times being at war with my brothers (2 older). I was normally like the air force, doing a flyby and then being long gone by the time they realize what just happened. They were both bigger than me... I had to be resourceful. Waring between brothers and sisters happens far too often, especially in church.

1 John 3:23 ~ And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

Sometimes the hardest and most unnatural thing to do is to show love to someone who is waring against you. Being the bigger person was often what I forgot to to do when I was younger and dealing with my brothers. It is far to important for us involved in the Kingdom to do more than just get along, but genuinely love each other. Maybe we should even go out of our way sometimes to show it.

The full passage here speaks clearly about the depth of our love for each other. Go back and read the rest. 1 John 3:11-24

triple tuesday..

2009-02-17T19:36:00.000-08:00

it has been a while but... here it goes

1. I'm really motivated to get to at least 100 posts, but I know that when I get there I'll be a little disappointed with the reaction. I can see it now. ~ me... in a room... "yay.. I just did my 100th post!!!"... then I'll look around and realize, it's just me in a room, and I just did my 100th post. Wow, now that is depressing.

2. Tonight I was with a bunch of students at McDonald's and somehow got to thinking about the legendary SNL skit "DA Bears!"

3. I got nothing.... I should try this a little earlier in the night... when my brain doesn't hurt so much. Not that my brain is hurting, probably just a headache from staring at my computer for too long. But maybe, just maybe, tiny creatures crawled into my head last night when I was sleeping and they are flapping their wings behind and above my eye sockets. I'm normally not a conspiracy theorist... but this one does have me concerned... what if there weren't ever really headaches, but a calculated attack by the entire "bug world" to drive us crazy.... I really think it is working.

what is so hard about it?

2009-02-16T11:39:00.001-08:00

I guess it is a gift for me. I've never lived in a gray world, it has always been black and white for me. There are some times when I just have to pause and wonder what makes it so hard for some people to believe or even hold themselves accountable.

The Bible, for instance, is such a easy thing for me... but when I look around the web and even in some so called churches, people (that call themselves christian) can't take it as truth?!? I role my eyes and move on... but maybe I should spend a little more time here. I am leading a small group (in the grand scheme of things) of middle school students. This really matters and is relevant to this generation who is taught to reason things out in a gray world, and that sees compromise all around them.

We cannot let this generation see compromise on some important issues. The bible being the most important!.. It is the Word of God, Infallible, Inerrant and complete until the Lord's return. The issues that it talks about aren't up for discussion. I don't think that students need to sit around wondering if homosexuality is OK or where they stand on abortion. And if the Word offends you, it is probably for a good reason.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to teach hate, but share a concern for our students that are growing up in a world that is, at an even faster pace, teaching our kids to blur lines and gray things out.

really big??

2009-02-10T11:52:00.001-08:00

When was the last time you did something really big?? When I was in high school and college I did a number of crazy things... they felt huge. One sunday my best friend and I loaded up a huge penske truck with clothes and headed to Mexico. What a huge impact that had on my life... really!! When I surrendered to ministry I remember feeling like God has this huge megaphone in my ear (which I have used since to really influence or maybe annoy students) saying "Steven, I'm telling you to serve me... DO IT... DO IT.... DO IT..." so I did. That was huge. I remember sitting on a couch in a living room sharing the Gospel with a family... and being a part of the family coming to know Christ. It was big.... after all of these moments, I felt like my heart was going to explode from this overwhelming sense that I was a part of something that was so far bigger than me.

I've really been challenged by this over the past month. I think I focus a lot of my attention on things that God doesn't care about... (TV, Politics, food...) and not enough on the decisions I've made, that add responsibility or on the fact that God wants me to do BIG things.

I had a wise friend council me... (1)more things, more problems... and even more recently another wise friend challenged me that (2)"less is more." So today I want to make a covenant with myself... better yet... I want to make a covenant with God... (1)God - I want more of your things (wisdom from your word, compassion toward others, and a heart of service even unto death) so that my problems would be worth dealing with. (2) God - I want to strip myself from everything so that you can have the rightful place in my life.

I'm ready to do something Really BIG again!

Pandora

2009-01-14T11:48:00.001-08:00

Ok, I didn't know how cool this thing was until I tried it out. I thought that I-tunes genius thing was genius, but this beats that hands down. I know that I'm a little late, but if there are any other late-comers to the land of online music, check out pandora.

triple thursday... normally tuesday

2009-01-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

1. Why is it that people who smoke in their cars role down the window. Are they afraid of the second hand smoke?? Anybody who has had a car that people have smoked in knows that it doesn't help the smell of the car nor the person. Anyway.. I'm perplexed.

2. Without getting too political... I think Isreal has historically shown great restraint, for a power that could easily take over whatever they wanted...

3. "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade." There is so many other awesome things you can do with lemons... I feel limited by the saying that should be freeing.

What could you do with a lemon?

practicing what you preach

2008-12-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

Jesus showed love to His disciples by correcting them. This correction taught them what was important and was an attempt for them to be prepared for things to come. I don't think it was until everything was done that the disciples really put it all together. Simply put, Jesus could always see the big picture.

When we are corrected, by whatever authority or even God through the Holy Spirit, it is sometimes one of the hardest things to deal with. I remember getting pulled over and receiving a ticket for running a red light when I was in college. I must have had a sour face or something, but the police officer wasn't too happy with me... and I was trying my best to get the best excuse possible, end game I ran a red-light, I get a ticket. It hits a little closer to home when it is a spiritual matter or anything else.

How should we take correction...

- with an understanding that God has ordained all authority. If someone can correct you and does, you must be respectful.
- always thinking objectively and then have some time to evaluate it for yourself.
- remember that correction allows you to be better or get it right in the long term.

There is a lot more to be said there but that is at least a good start for you to think about.

On the flip side, How to we give correction?

- unless you have been given the authority or the job to correct, stick to worrying about yourself.
- if you have the authority, be honest, bold and loving and if given the chance help work toward the solution.

It is really easy to write this on a blog, but practicing it is a different story.

maybe one day in a few years I'll get to 100 posts

2008-12-15T10:12:00.000-08:00

we have had an exciting few weeks here at McGregor. Pageant is always a time for fun and relaxation... wait what am I saying... I'm glad to have a real weekend coming up.

Pageant was fun though. Every year I get to meet someone new and even get to know someone that was an acquaintance a bit better.

I got to lead the devotion before the friday night performance this past weekend and (if I say so myself) I did pretty well. (I'm trying to be really humble) I know that God really used me to turn the hearts of His people. I'm just kidding, but I did really do a devotion for the pageant that was from my heart and I wanted to share it with all of you (which is mainly Kristi, I think she checks my blog about 15 times a day, thank you for your faithfulness and giving me at least 15 hits to my blog.)

John 13:34
A new commandment "love each other like I have loved you!" - Jesus

I focused on how Christ love us.

We should Correct each other when we are out of line. Christ corrected the Disciples many times to get them one the right path. Correcting someone is a form of love...

We should meet each others need. Jesus took care of the disciples, we should do likewise with each other.

We should have a passion for each others success. Jesus wanted us to succeed so bad He went to the cross for us. (a new measure of success)

facing the chasm

2008-11-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

Our middle school ministry has grown in a short time from its infancy to something that has arms, legs and direction. I know that God is at work in the students lives and continues to bring new faces and life change regularly. If there is one goal we have mastered it is "fun". There have been few nights where students have left hanging their heads and not wanting to return. So what is this chasm that we face?

I think that it is one filled with 5 things for us to discuss and through hard work and God's grace, one that we will easily cross.

Chasm 1 __ Ignorance. This is one that we continually have to combat. We have to make sure that everyone involved (parents, leaders and students) knows what we are all about.

Chasm 2 __ Inertia. Students/Parents/Leaders get it, know it, but are complacent toward it. This is an incredibly frustrating barrier to ministry.

Chasm 3 __ Complexity. How easy is it for our audience to get involved and do what we want them to do? We have done a great job of simplifying our process but have we made plenty of on ramps.

Chasm 4 __ Channel. How well are we getting our message out. We can't pretend to be reaching Lee County's middle school students if they don't even know we exist.

Chasm 5 __ Price. What is this going to cost me... to be combated with value... Is what we offer valuable to all middle school students, their parents and our leaders?

Give me your thoughts on some of these. When we cross this chasm then we will be able to reach more middle school students and their families than ever before.

triple tuesday

2008-11-04T21:19:00.000-08:00

it's not tuesday anymore... but here it goes...

Number 1 __ I wouldn't be good as a political analyst, I got it all wrong. Right before Obama was named president elect I actually thought California might go for McCain. ;)

Number 2 __ McCain really was a great example of humility tonight. I wonder in my greatest defeat if I could be as gracious and humble as he was tonight.

Number 3 __ Without giving away who I voted for, I wonder if we would have been so excited if we won the election. Tons of emotion tonight, celebrities and politicians crying, crowds dancing in the streets... I bet a lot of those students will be skipping class tomorrow. If I were a professor if I would give a pop quiz... heartless.

wednesday night

2008-11-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

Our hook night this past wednesday was great. We had a really fun time. I think the leader with the best costume was Jill, with a close second being Danny. Jill is the badgirl with the guitar and danny looks a lot like Gene simmons (i'm not even sure I know who that is.) We did what we set out to do. I think I've heard everyone of the students talking about having a great time. No response to the decision time, but a clear presentation and invitation. Lot's of students with their friends. Go to triplemsm.com and click on pictures to check some of them out.

triple tuesdays

2008-10-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

It's tuesday so here goes what's on my mind...

Number 1 __ So sunday I was sitting in the worship center and I could smell the gum that Kristi (my wife) was chewing on. I thought, wow that smells pretty good, can I get some. Then, I thought what if the entire choir ate onions before they came on stage? Would there be this overwhelming odor of onion in the worship service? I wonder if Rob would let me test this one out?

Number 2 __ Tomorrow night is a huge party for our ministry, lots of giveaways, games, costumes, pizza, etc. I'm really looking forward to having a fun relaxing night with our students. I'm wondering what type of costumes we're going to get. I probably should get some extra clothes to hand out, just in case we have someone that doesn't have discretion.

Number 3 __ Last night Kristi and I watched a movie about a girl who gave birth in a Wal-mart. That would be so cool (not to give birth in a wal-mart) to live in a department store. I would be really picky... I don't want to live in wal-mart but maybe target, Kristi already does. Target doesn't really have beds though, right now I'm really leaning towards a Macy's that has a furniture section. Do you think they would get a cable package for me?

taking advantage of "latent potential"

2008-10-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Latent potential is the unapparent potential that something may have. For instance when they started to put cigarette lighters in cars, not only could you use it to potentially kill or cause harm to yourself or your passengers by lighting a cigarette, but who would have thought that now most people use it to power their electronics in their cars. Who-ever thought of that hopefully made a bunch of money.

This question comes to my head, what is the latent potential of the ministry that we serve in? I talk all the time about the potential that fills a room that has middle school students in it, but I also sit in the same room wondering what is going to be the spark that gets the fire started?

We really need to focused on:
What is something that could be the next huge thing that God will use to bring the lost to Him?
How can we find that before the devil will grab it and use it against us?
How can we reclaim things (like technology) and use them for God's purpose?
What is right under our noses that we are doing, that with another application could be 10 times more useful?

These are things to think on that could revolutionize what we do and how we do it.

this time of year...

2008-10-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

In southwest florida this time of year comes a lot later for us and will leave us even quicker than it comes. I stepped outside around noon and just started thinking how awesome it felt outside. This is my favorite time of the year... until tomorrow when the temp goes back to 95 and humidity hits 99%.

Every cool afternoon I remember playing football with all my cousins and brothers at my grandparents house in Many, La. I don't know what brings this memory... I was never any good... almost always getting left out due to being the youngest. But yet somehow still a great memory and a great feeling.

triple tuesdays

2008-10-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

It is tuesday so here goes what's on my mind.....

Number 1 __ Yes I cut all my hair off.... but it wasn't in support of Brittney Spears or anything like that. One thing that I have heard over and over is that my head is shaped well for having cut all my hair off. People say "well, at least you have a nice shaped head." To that, as if I'm getting some award, I need to say thank you to my mom... she must have rotated me well when she used to lay me down in my crib.

Number 2 __ So even if gas does come down dramatically, OPEC along with our closest enemies will make the prices soar again. So keep your Prius everyone.

Number 3 __ A few weeks ago I heard a report that Chevy and Ford were in talks of merging.... now, I know that it is chevy and Chrysler. But, it made me think... if chevy and ford merged... what would calvin have to pee on?

tonight

2008-10-15T12:39:00.001-07:00

I'm really excited about my lesson tonight. It isn't often that I go in depth in the old testament and this will be my second week. I'm praying that the students will really want to pay attention to what God has laid on my heart.

Triple Tuesday last night was really fun. We've been doing some evangelism training and it is cool to see students get to learn how to do what Jesus wanted us to do... share the good news about Him. I was asking a few of the students (all of them - there is only a few) what it would take for them to take their faith in Christ to the next level... take action. They want to be given the opportunity... and have someone come along side them and set the example. That was almost verbatim their answer... and I was like wow that is exactly what we are doing with triplemsm... and there is so many other things that we can do.

God holds Abraham up as a man of faith, but we see him on two occasions waver in the same area (lying about Sarai being his sister)... God's plan is so much greater than us. We mess up along the way, but He does so much more to take care of us. While Abraham was messing up, giving Sarah away twice (nearly losing her both times), God's plan to provide Abraham a son prevails, along with God's promise to bless the earth with Abraham's offspring (too numerous to count). We can all learn from this.

What step of faith does God want you to take? DON'T LET ANYTHING HOLD YOU BACK!!

triple tuesdays

2008-10-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

Not to be confused with what we do with our students on tuesday nights... I wanted to start a segment called triple tuesday where I can clear randomness from my brain... don't know if it will really clear it??

Number 1 ___ I have a hard time sitting still. Anyone who works with me will tell you that they see me randomly walking the halls, sometimes just back and forth, or barging into Ben's office, etc. Not because there is a lack of anything to do.... just sitting in my office doesn't help me... sometimes I think my office could be my number one distraction.

Number 2 ___ If gas comes down in price as dramatically as the price of oil has come down... will people be wanting their old cars back. I know that I would... especially if I went from some sort of truck to a prius... no offense if that applies to you.

Number 3 ___ I'm having a hard time with number one. It doesn't seem that random... more like a confession.

There you go... triple tuesday post one.

they're back

2008-10-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who was praying for safe travel for my family. They made it home safely last night. I knew how much I missed them... but not as much as I realized when they were finally home. It was so refreshing sitting next to Jonathan on the couch watching "planet earth" on Discover Channel...

past week...

2008-10-13T09:01:00.001-07:00

This past week I had a great time and a horrible all in the same experience. I can't sleep when Kristi is away and 2 weeks of being apart is about 2 weeks too long. But, the great part was having the opportunities to speak on several occasions. The first, I got really nervous about, was to our ministerial staff here at McGregor. There is something about speaking to a room full of pastors that just makes me nervous.

The second was our regular Wednesday night service. We started a new series called "Trick or Treat" trickeries in the bible... We started with Ehud and the fat king Eglon. I really enjoyed it since it is one of my favorite stories from the bible. Things didn't go as planned... a lot of distractions.

Third I got to speak at SFCA middle school and high school chapels. An experience in and of itself.... It went great... I spoke to the HS about Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Vanity of Vanities... We are nothing and so are our endeavors outside of Christ. It was a real pep rally.

Finally I got to spend Friday night with our leadership team.... What a great and refreshing time. I'm so thankful for the group of people that God has assembled here to work with our middle school students.

Our Leadership!

2008-09-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

We have a great leadership team.... Like this guy. He just shows up one day and says, "Hey I want to work with mid skulers!" He was so excited about it... we had to give him a shot. One good choice after another has assembled one of the greatest teams to work with here at McGregor!

triple 9.3.08

2008-09-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

Attendance was still good last night. I've been really encouraged by our leaders the past few weeks. They are showing up and not only willing to get involved, but actually doing it (getting involved!). The worship was excellent... our students responsiveness was not, unfortunately. It is about half and half. Half our students are using the time to Worship God the other half is finishing their socializing. At least we know that our students are getting along with each other.

We finished our series "where's the beef?" with a focus on idolatry and 1 Cor. 10... I think it was fitting. I got to challenge the students to not let the circumstances of life keep them away from what they were created for, worshipping God.

blog, leaders, elections

2008-09-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

So, it's wednesday and it has been a week since I blogged last. I just wanted to say that last wednesday went fairly well. We had great attendance by leaders and students, it was put together a little last minute (we had a planning retreat from monday until the time we started wed. night). God is doing some cool stuff... We had a student decide to follow Christ that was brought by a friend, some other commitments also...

Our leaders are really committed. I've been blessed with a great team of people that have grown closer over a short period of time, two blessings, but they are also going through a lot, like a lot of other people here in southwest florida with the economy. I was really struggling with what I could do to help... Prayer goes a long way (not discounting it) but is there something physical, anything... I haven't really come to a conclusion... But I have been reminded about how much getting involved in ministry and allowing God to use you, takes you in a positive direction... I saw it in a video that will be shown for the churches 50th anniversary, and in the testimony of my leaders, who because God has brought them together and is using them to make a difference in these middle school students lives... their own lives have been changed in good ways.

Elections are upon us... the politicking has started and this side verses that side is really going to be great this time around. I've been impressed by the McCain camps push for country first, the people of the country should be what the government exists for... there is just too much government (my humble opinion). I'm a little disgusted by the thought of people discovering their own journey... the Obama national convention seemed to say that it was his destiny to lead this nation... and his journey has led him to this very moment. I hope that one day someone will say that I didn't exist for myself... we all struggle with this, but anyway.

triple 8.20.08 & sunday school 8.24.08

2008-08-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

triple 8.20.08
Triple went very well this past week. We had a large crowd, I always appreciate how much energy the new 6th grade bring when they come up. We did a lot of games, talked about meat and milk and continued to challenge our students to choose to follow Christ. One of our students made the decision to follow Christ and will be baptized soon. God used a really fun service to move in a pretty amazing way.

I'm really excited about tonight. This will be the first time for a normal triple, with Gerald leading worship, message, game, etc. The added element of worship will be exciting for all the students.

sunday school 8.24.08
I was blown away sunday with the amount of people in stage one.... and they were all there for middle school sunday school. Our leaders are amazing, I can't say that enough... this is amounting to be a great year. The test of our leadership will be how well we get to know these students that God has entrusted us with. With 175 this is no easy task, but taking the pictures and learning names will be the first step towards an intentional relational year.

a series 5 - Influence

2008-08-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

If a leader is to lead they must be influential. We tell our students all the time that you are either influencing things in the wrong way or the right way... meaning, we all, by our actions, reactions and lack of action are influencing others to follow us, never be like us, to speak up, to stay quiet, to live right, etc. As a Christian leader the area of influence will lead others toward holiness.

Understanding how we lead (through a leadership profile) will help us to become more intentional about our influence.

a series 4 - Capable

2008-08-26T05:48:00.000-07:00

"Leaders are born and made."

Their are things that God wires us for. Some of us to lead large congregations, like our Pastor. Some of us run behind the scenes and get things set up, torn down and all the technical details taken care of. How are you wired. In whatever leadership capacity you hold, maybe God has made you for that or given you the gifts and skills to be great or good at what you do. Throughout history you see the example of people who God has made "for such a time as this." However, just being born with special abilities (gifts or talents), doesn't make you excel as a leader.

Aubrey Malphurs looks at some things that all of us can focus on as God grows our influence, things that can help us sharpen our skills as Christian Leaders.

1. Character - This is the foundation of Christian Leadership. We should always be evaluating the innermost details of our lives to be sure that we can lead with "integrity of heart." (Psalm 78:72)

2. Knowledge - At a conference last year, I remember being challenged to always stay current with what you are doing. We should stay on the cutting edge of our trade, this is only going to sharpen our knowledge and allow us to push beyond the self made barrier of status quo.

3. Skills - Even the best players on the team show up for practice (unless you are some over-paid pro athlete). The best thing that we can do is practice what we are good at and also the things that we aren't good at so that we can always be improving.

4. Emotions - I struggle with this one. Emotion is the first thing that happens all the time, we can't help getting our feelings hurt, we hear sad news, we hear great news, emotions are first. Acting upon emotion is what we can control.

Sharpening these made capabilities coupled with the way that God has wired us will help us be more capable leaders.

I love my wife!!

2008-08-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

I have to spend 3 days away from home for staff planning, and I miss her greatly. She recently went to yearbookyourself.com and she has had so much fun with it. Now the whole staff is doing it, quite fun... thank you baby!! I miss you.

Camp Spasm!

2008-08-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

I finally got this to upload!! Camp was such an awesome week. We are still seeing the fruits of what God did in the lives of our students! Thank you to everyone who played a role into pulling it off.

update: sunglasses, shoes and weight loss

2008-08-18T10:11:00.001-07:00

Just a little update. While the cause could be laziness or forgetfulness as one of my leaders pointed out. I did a little experiment and have started to wear my sunglasses a bit more. To my surprise, i have gained a little weight, just a couple pounds??? Strange I know, but the mystery deepens. Also my shoes got washed.

Maybe it was just a crazy week at camp spasm. My eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, my shoes were dirty from a mudhole incident that monday and I don't remember eating too much that whole time. That would be too logical though. There has to be some mysticism in it. :)

a series 3 - Credibility

2008-08-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

This chapter really goes hand in hand with trust. People will not trust you if you have no credibility. Since every year is a fresh start with our middle school ministry, I'm going to look at the section marked developing credibility and see how we can apply this to our middle school ministry and more importantly, small groups.

Character - Some things go without saying. When leading middle school students, we must be above reproach, of course we have mess ups, but inside and out we need to have Godly Character... if we expect it from students, we should hold ourselves to it.

Competence - The application for this one is come prepared. Things will present themselves that we aren't ready for sometimes. I'm more thinking about the things that we can control. Come prayed up with your own copy of God's word, etc. This is also where I come in, It's my role to equip you.

Clarity of Direction - It might be good for you this year to define with you small group where you would like them to be at the end of the year. Take some initiative and decide what it will take to get the students there and always keep that in front of them. We will do this as a ministry, but your small group would benefit tremendously with you from this.

Communication - call your students, talk to them about your expectations, e-mail them, etc.

Conviction - Do the things that you are passionate about. Be sure to let me know. If the direction you want to go is opposing where the group is going, don't do it, and really pray about where you are supposed to be. This is more pertaining to being passionate about your small group, show the students your passion and commitment.

Courage - It takes a lot of courage to lead middle school students to do something amazing. There are a lot of people against it. But, as we found out this friday night, Courage is what will drive you to handle the tough situations.

Care - this goes without saying

Composure - never let them see you sweat. In middle school ministry, once they do, they'll never let you live it down... you could build a lot of respect and credibility over many months and years, but loose your cool once and you loose everything in that second.

a series 2 - Servant Leadership

2008-08-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

To become a disciple of Christ you have to follow Christ. I think far to many people follow people (in the church) with no thought of Christ, whether it be through book, attending, or other methods, the focus could be more on what one person has to say other than what Christ is saying through them. Not that these things are wrong, but they do point us to a huge responsibility as leaders: Consistently point people toward obedience (followship) of Christ. That being said we can look to His example to find out how to do that.

The second chapter of Being Leaders compares and contrasts what Christ did, how we should be as leader and how we shouldn't. The book has a really cool chart in it that shows the characteristics of servant leadership from Biblical directives.

We should lead humbly ("not lording over") contrast: humility, not ego
Everything we do is about service ("a servant and slave") contrast: giving, not receiving
We should lead others ("for many") contrast: others, not self
We should lead because we love them ("the full extent of his love") contrast: a towel, not a throne

We know that Christ was God already, and had humbled himself by coming to live with us in the flesh. He became a servant and slave to, not just us but "the world" and gave His life for those that would believe, repent and follow; "no greater love."

We can learn a lot of things by adopting these principles into our everyday decisions and actions.

8-13-08 triple

2008-08-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a great night. A picture of what I hope is more to come. Gerald and the band did an incredible job at engaging the students in worship. We have stepped up our game in the video world, which has created more opportunity to serve and ups the production quality (minus a few glitches tonight). The students moved, responded to, and were excited by the different elements of the night. It is really easy to engage them following our camp, so that really gave us a boost. We also had 132 people there tonight, making it one of the biggest Triple's since December.

Tonight also showed me the importance of a tech sheet and more communication between me and everyone involved in production. I need to let go and let other people do what they are good at, which after being in stage 2 for so long (where I sometimes ran words, sound and lights solo) is going to take me some time to do. Like I said, I'm excited about where we are going. I really can't wait to meet the new 6th grade and get them into the mix with all the excitement.

a series

2008-08-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

There is a series of books that I'm going to finally start going through. They are by a guy named Aubrey Malphurs who I think is a professor at DTS (Dallas Theological Seminary). I know that he is well respected by a few of my friends and I have already been through one of his book Values Driven Leadership. The series starts with a book called Being Leaders then Building Leaders and ends with Leading Leaders.

So, I got through the first chapter of the first book and it really was engaging. It starts with the fact that everyone who is a Christian Leader is that in the community, church and their own lives. Then it goes through the criteria as to what makes one a Christian leader.

One of the things that stood out to me was that Christian Leaders understand the importance of Motives. This is really important as any leader deals directly or indirectly with conflict or any number of situations. As we lead, we must remember that some of the biggest mistakes that are made may have the best motives behind them. Leaders don't get the opportunity to see straight to the heart (like God does) but sometimes we do need to slow down to take a different perspective.

This really makes sense in Middle school ministry. Sometimes people are quick to write off all the fun, non-stop energy and sometimes disrespect as rude middle school antics... A lot of times this is the furthest thing from the truth... it could be a cry for help, attention, a Godly mentor. As we lead, help us to remember that our motives need to be right and that the people we lead have motives of their own.

sunglasses, shoes and weight loss

2008-08-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if these things go together, but they might.

I don't wear sunglasses all that often, but today I found myself really needing some after leaving a restaurant Shawn and I were at for lunch. It really caught me off guard, how bright the sun is. Like, is it getting closer? (blonde moment) But I've been in florida since 2002 and I never realized how much I really need sunglasses.

A pair of my shoes got dirty after a little muddy exploration monday a week ago. I took them off at my front door and that is where they still are....

This morning... I realized that my pants are fitting a lot looser on me than they normally do.

There has got to be some relation between these things.... Doesn't there?

Camp Spasm

2008-08-11T18:54:00.001-07:00

WOW!! What an awesome week last week. I was blown away by everything and everyone involved in camp. I was reminded this week of several things. The first - McGregor Baptist Church has the best middle school students in the world. 86 students and not really any major problems and absolutely no damage to the building. I'm so blessed to be the middle school pastor here.

The second thing that I was reminded - Our leaders are committed. Everyone worked hard together to show students God love. After some rest I'm sure all of us are ready to do it again... the good thing is we have some time to plan and make next years camp the best ever.... again!!

The last thing of note that I was reminded (other than the fact that I don't make a good sick person) -- I love working with middle school students. Every night we had the most engaging worship (led by Gerald Malloy and band and our camp pastor Mac Cockrell). There is nothing more rewarding in my job than to see 70+ students on their face dealing with the Lord. The Holy spirit showed up and moved in a tremendous way. I don't know what God was talking to every student about, but two of them were giving their life to Him for the first time and 1 was talking to Him about following in obedience through baptism.

something prolific...

2008-08-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

I stopped writing these because the pressure to write something prolific every time I sit down to blog. Prolific - something that produces fruit, something that will really move people. I guess this is self induced for me, and a little bit of a big head. I was looking back through old posts and really haven't written anything prolific since I started this whole blog thing.

So today I will ask for two things. One for myself... "self will you please stop putting so much pressure on me, you are really too high strung anyway?" And the other from you (my readers) the next time you see me will you say "steven, it isn't about prolificacy, it is just a blog." I really need to hear that. One reason, when I don't hear it from too many people, I'll realize that the pressure was way undo, I probably only have two readers.... anyway...

five year olds beware...

2008-03-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

this is very cheesy but I couldn't resist. I think that I need some counseling though. I mean come on who would really fight a pack of five year olds, unless they attack you first... right??

24

Relational

2008-02-20T08:34:00.000-08:00

Being relational is one of our core values as a middle school ministry. I was recently reading an article in Group Magazine that asked lots of respected youth leaders from around the country (no, I wasn't one of them; no respect) what was the one thing that makes student ministry successful (of course I'm paraphrasing). I wasn't surprised by the answers, almost all of them talked about building relationships through small groups led by a God-loving adult. In working in student ministry for a while I think that is a no brainer answer... it is what we exist for. My own sunday school testimony (to coin a phrase from FAITH) is linked to a student leader named Patrick Kyle who built a relationship with me the first time I stepped on campus at Colonial Heights Baptist Church, he was the greatest influence to keep me coming back to church.

One of the things that was surprising to me is the consistency of the answer. Some of these ministries have over 1000 middle school students and the biggest thing they do is also the smallest. That is important. We have a lot of roles in our middle school ministry: the minister, the secretary, the master teacher, the band, the sound guys, the game helpers, etc. but the biggest and most important role that all of those play is relationship builder! As you plug into whatever spot you hold, remember the most important thing about that spot are the students that are around you. Get to know them, invest in them, love on them and the returns will be great.

the long train wait

2007-12-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

I'm standing in lakes park waiting for the Christmas train. We've been here for at least an hour and I think that we have another hour to wait... We didn't expect to wait this long. In fact I was only expecting to wait wen to fifteen minutes. I'll update this to let you know if the wait was worth it.

Update: If you have a son who has waited patiently for a train for over an hour, it turns out to be worth it... if you weigh in the fact that he would have thrown a huge fit if we had left. all in all we had a great time.

learning spanish

2007-12-19T11:18:00.001-08:00

I'm going to try and learn spanish over the next year.

the boys meet santa

2007-12-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

We went to the Calusa Nature Preserve the last night with some friends and had a great time. The boys got to meet santa where Jonathan changed his mind about what he wanted for Christmas another time. Hopefully by the time Christmas comes around I can convince him he really wants what we got him (a plasma tv to go in mommy and daddy's room)... just kidding. We had a really good time, although we didn't know that the trail was that long. As you can see by Tyler's face, he was mesmerized by Santa's beard.

I really can't wait for our middle school leadership party tomorrow night, we have some new people coming and almost everyone will be there!

latest video... a bit late

2007-12-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

We had an amazingly fun night to close out the new year. We gave away an i-pod touch. A kid named "fuzzy" won it. This is one of the video's we did that night.

effectual fervent prayer

2007-12-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

Today I got to do the last devotional leading into our last series of pageant performances. Rob asked us if to theme it with Christmas memories, so I picked one of my favorite Christmas memories from when I was growing up.

When I was 3 (the first Christmas I can remember), we were in Baton Rouge and the whole family got together (my dad's side) and it was a memorable becuase of what happened. I remember the fun, but for years my family has talked about, caroling and getting doors slammed in our faces, but I remember we made the whole block.

Now that I think of it, that story has really nothing to do with James 5:16 but the pageant does. We pray for each pageant, that God will use it, and amplify the gospel message throughout... but we can't stop at this, we must fervently petition God to continue move in the hearts of those that have come and heard the message.

So anyway... that was what I talked about.

It has been a great day today.. I'm looking forward to what this week has in store.

one more night of pageant...

2007-12-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

The pageant this year has been a lot more fun than last year... maybe because I was a newbie last year or whatever. I have enjoyed joking around on the stage and acting surprised to see the same thing happen (as of tonight) for the eleventh time.

Tonight I was talking with Chelsea Kackley (who just got in town from her first semester at college) and she was talking about how different this Christmas will be for her because of how she had been in the pageant since she was in second grade. I think that is really cool. Whether it is reminding people of the meaning of Christmas or introducing them to Christ for the first time... to think that Chelsea and so many others, either over many years, or maybe for the first time this year, have played such a part in something this huge.

So, we have one more night left. Interesting stuff happens on these last nights, we'll see.

Christmas Panda!!

2007-12-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

I had to stop at panda because I don't know how to spell pandemonium. (I did spell check for that one)

It is always fun to go to the stores this time of year. It seems that everyone who works at the big stores are all excited by the business that is generated from this time of year. We had three guys at Best Buy explaining to us why there might not be a chance to get the most popular wii game of the season Guitar Hero III. I'm not giving anybody any hints am i? This time of year excites the masses.

Tonight starts another round of performances of the Southwest Florida Christmas Pageant. Last weekend was great, I'm sure this weekend won't be any different. Kristi and I are going to grab some Pizza before the fun starts tonight...

"6 Rocky Movies"

2007-12-13T05:36:00.000-08:00

Last night was a great time to be on staff at McGregor Baptist Church. Not just because I stuffed myself with food that I didn't have to pay for... which was good, but we just had a great time (all the staff couples minus one) hangin' out. I was reminded about how blessed I am to be a part of this church at this time to do what God has called me to do and has given me more than enough resources to do it.

all in all, it has been a really great week... we have really gotten a lot accomplished.

- planning for wednesday nights through June.
- camp theming
- team relationships strengthened in several areas

then after six pageant performances we will be done with another week...

happy thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

There are so many things to be thankful for, I couldn't even begin to list them... I'd probably leave something or someone out and that wouldn't be good. So instead I'm going to take the shotgun approach and say that I'm thankful for everything!! It is almost like saying "I'm fine."

Kurt Johnston the jr. high pastor at saddleback put it very poignantly (from Scripture). So when I looked at his blog this morning it reminded me of what simplifies a list of things to be thankful for.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above..."
James 1:17

great news!

2007-11-20T13:27:00.000-08:00

I'm always the last one to blog about some things... So now since Mark and Gerald have already blogged about it, I'm going to join in the excitement.

Ben Fleming is the new High School Pastor. This is a huge addition to our team, I'm really excited for he and his wife Maggie to be coming, and they are coming quickly. Ben was with us at Camp Spasm, and brings some new creativity to our team.

new glass

2007-11-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

Ever since camp spasm the front door to the Student Ministries office has been marred with broken glass. Something that after a little while you get used to. It was still serving the correct purpose there was just something that was wrong with it... it was broke. Today was a new day... the glass was replaced. (actually two pieces - but the other one wasn't our fault, I swear) The Guy who brought the glass worked forever to get it back into the slot that it goes into, but did a great job and I think that it is better than the original.

The analogies here are many... do with it what you will. To me I was reminded of James 1:22-25... That sometimes we notice something and never do anything about it. Not that I could fix the glass, but it just became what it was, I hardly even noticed it was there, but it was there and always needed to be fixed.

Ok, maybe I'm stretching a little bit to get some cool analogy out of a broken piece of glass in our office being replaced (it beats Gerald's racoon story, or maybe not.)

crazy way to do announcements

2007-11-14T11:44:00.000-08:00

I really want everyone to know about upcoming stuff. But nobody really listens to the talking head... so we made it sing.

e-mail blogging

2007-11-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

My long awaited return to blogging comes from my phone. I can pretty much blog from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection... I think that is really cool (talking in my nerd voice). Anyway, I plan to make this a regular thing again. We'll see how that goes.

The use of the internet and e-mail for communication is really effective, but today I had my first reminder of what the past was like... Someone (will remain nameless) that I need to communicate regularly with, has no access to e-mail or internet regularly enough for it to be effective. (and doesn't have an awesome wife that does his tech bidding for him - like Dwayne Z) Do we cut them off completely, absolutely not, we go back to the old days and call. Although I just thought of that this person may have text... Who knows where technology will take us next.

Rob Thompson and David Miller both contributed to me writing this post... Thanks for helping me get back in the game!

more innovate

2007-10-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of the last post about the Innovate conference at GCC in Granger, IN.

Things that I was inspired by...

Granger's whole staff was tied together with a real sense of team. It wasn't just a polished finish that they were putting on for those at the conference. You could tell it was something that they really believe in. The inspiring part was that the team was the whole church. It wasn't just the middles school ministry or single ministry or college, being separated out as their own group, they were all GCC.

The ability to reach middle school students depends on the reach of the rest of the church. I was inspired by this selfless devotion to the big picture. While we have lots of responsibilities, if we miss the big picture of MBC our ability to effectively reach these students is reduced.

We are working on ideas to get the middle school ministry involved in the big picture of MBC. Service projects that tie into the sermon series on sunday mornings, areas of Volunteerism that students can be involved (Fall fest), etc... what are some ideas that you have?

Innovate - sinking in

2007-10-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

I was on vacation in Colorado, visiting my parents, which was incredibly refreshing apart from the chap lips. Then I got on a plane and headed to South Bend, IN for the Innovate '07 conference at Granger Community Church, GCC. It was an incredible experience, which made me spend some time letting it sink in. I remember Al Newell saying that the more you revisit something the more your really learn it.

Mark Bricker asked me to share this morning, as a part of our ed staff meeting, some things that I had learned, was inspired by, challenged by, or encouraged by. I missed the or and really had a lot to share. I'm going to sum it up in the next 4 blog posts, so maybe we can let it sink in together.

I start with one of the the best things that I learned... Creating Culture.

After being at Mcgregor for over a year now, I've learned a lot about the culture. This is a different church than anywhere in the United States. We are extremely diverse (as SBC churches go) and have a very unique culture.

Some observations about Culture:
1. When you get close to people you tend to start talking like them.
2. When you spend more time close to the same people there is even new words "somewhat of a new language" (stuff people from the outside might not understand)
3. It creates a feeling of togetherness and being a part. (hey that is why we have terms like "red-necks" and "city-slickers")

This is something that we need to be intentional about while we are starting our middle school ministry. Creating a middle school ministry culture. We all need to be contributors to this. So maybe instead of calling our crazy games "crazy games", we need to call them "flambastic", or instead of calling our events "events" we should call them "sizzle". These are just suggestions, and I know that Gerald is already making fun of me. But let's get close, invest and be a part and create culture that will last long past us...

leave comments and your own suggestions..

exciting times

2007-09-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

Every time that I get the chance to talk with someone new about middle school ministry I get excited, to the point I can't really focus on anything because there is so much that I want to say. I really have to take a deep breath and gather myself and thoughts and stick to the basics. It is kinda like our faith, it is something that God wants us to share with other people and God is so good to us that there is so much that we want to share (or feel like we have to) but it is better, especially for a non-believer, if we just stick to the basics - and best when we just let the Holy Spirit lead.

All that to say, as I ramble on, God is really doing something exciting around us, and we have a real opportunity to make an impact for His Kingdom sake.

Wednesday Night Review

2007-09-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Attendance: Average
Lesson Topic: Week 4 of our "Back to the Basics" series (Spiritual Disciplines)
'Fun Factor': Average
Team Involvement: Above Average
Music: Above Average
Lesson Quality: Above Average
Length of Lesson: 30 minutes
Student Response: Above Average

The lesson this week was aimed at getting the students to think about spiritual disciplines that help focus them on their relationship with Jesus and go further with it. I really wanted them to leave thinking about what disciplines they could add or start to help deepen their relationship. This wednesday I'm going to pull a couple aside and see how impactful it was, we'll see. All-in-all a great service the students are still dealing with God individually and focusing their energy on worship. It has really been amazing here since camp.

mark and miller show

2007-09-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

I had a great time yesterday, not only was it just a great day to get things accomplished, I got to do the mark and miller show. Mark Bricker and David Miller have a podcast that really gives great insight into what is going on here at the church, but also delves into the minds of two of our great pastors here at mcgregor. Anyway, it was a great time to talk about the middle school ministry to a larger audience that may not know what we are all about. You can check it out at this link: The Mark and Miller Show

keep moving forward...

2007-09-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

This summer or back in the spring I took Jonathan to see the movie "meet the robinsons." I'm not sure if he really gets the movies or he just likes them because I do... either way it is cool with me. That is beside the point... one of the saying of the inventor is "Keep moving forward," which you find out later that is a quote from walt disney himself. The statement couldn't be more true, in our Christian lives.

I feel like I've been blessed to experience a lot in my life. Some of the things have been great: whitewater rafting in Georgia, North Carolina, Wyoming and Colorado, traveling all over the US, going on mission trips to Mexico, Trinidad and the Grand Caymans, a loving family (I've been spoiled my whole life with this), the list could go on and on. Some of the things haven't been great, but the bad experiences in life can't stand in your way, and you can't spend you whole life in the good times either. Some people get stuck in the past, but you have to "Keep moving forward..."

We can't let the past be a hang-up for us. Paul gives us a clear vision for what we should be consumed with in Philippians 3:12-13 "...I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I don't consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead..." The two things that grab me the most is forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward... forgetting is sometimes easy but a lot of times it hurts to move forward (straining).

God is going to stretch us far beyond ourselves, and our call is to keep moving forward in Christ.

Wednesday Night Review

2007-09-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Attendance: Average (third wednesday of MS ministry at McGregor)
Lesson Topic: Week 3 of our "Back to the Basics" series (Prayer)
'Fun Factor': Average
Team Involvement: Above Average
Music: Above Average
Lesson Quality: Above Average
Length of Lesson: 25 minutes
Student Response: Above Average

We are continuing to be blessed by what God is doing in this middle school ministry. Every week since we began our numbers have increased and new faces abound. I'm so proud of a few of our students who are bringing unchurched friends with them. It was one of the challenges that was given at camp and several of our students are living it out. The message this week was fun to deliver... the students were with me pretty much the whole time, it was refreshing, especially following last week. God is an awesome God and He is doing something that is so much bigger than us, and He continues to give us evidence of it.

effective communication...

2007-09-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

Great things can happen when we communicate the right way. Every part of the team knows what is going on all the time. If we use the body analogy, the head thinks about it and then sends the messages to the other parts of the body where the right part of the body does what it is told... then there is this cool thing that some parts of the body know what to do without the brain conciously telling it what to do... then there are parts of the body that we have to keep groomed, ie. finger nails, hair, etc.... and well I'm hoping you are getting the picture.

The biggest thing that I think is important for us in the middle school minstry is the team getting connected. You know what makes a body a body is that it is connected all together. Anyway... If we are to get connected we have to get to know each other, understand fully our roles within the ministry, understand what others roles are within the minsitry.

We are trying to implement some strategies that will allow us to be more connected in communication and have more dialouge, but nothing will strengthen what we are doing more than the old fashioned fellowship. As a team it is important that we get together and get to know each other.... so we will do both. I'm looking forward to getting these things launched so that we can take steps forward in communication.

LSU Football!!!

2007-08-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

I don't think I could have had a better Thursday night. This is a really fun time of year, college football starting back up, and my favorite team is ranked no. 2, it is going to be a fun season (at least I hope so). Unless a miracle happens for the Miss. State team I think that LSU will win this one.

My favorite thing when I was growing up in Baton Rouge was LSU Sports. Football, baseball, basketball... There was something about the atmosphere. It was amazing, the excitement, energy and expectation... and of course the thousands of drunks...

ANYWAY... the main point... football has started back and GEAUX TIGERS!!